I can run pizdataRest.php which calls restoreBakup.sh which contains the subject "select" command from the command line in a terminal with no problems; it works!. Running the same from the "firefox" browser does not work!; the screen is blank except for the last line; "echo 'Continuing in 10 seconds.... "

After finding the below article on the internet I checked the /val/log/apache2/error.log and found that all the selections are there just as you want to find them on the screen.
Can this problem be fixed somehow??

Thanks in advance for your help.

R

Are you expecting to see the PS3 prompt and make a file selection from that bash script within the browser? It won't work like that, as you have found out! Everything sent to stderr will end up in the error file when running under apache, but even if you sent it to the screen you would have no means of making a selection from it as you do in a terminal - the script is not interactive through the browser!

I would begin by asking why you are using a shell script at all? Instead of using php as a wrapper to try to run the shell script, is there any reason to not do it much more simply by writing it all in php?

I would guess the answer may be that the ...DBases2/ path is not under your web server document root path (i.e. not accessible to apache or other permission problem), or the backups themselves cannot be easily executed via php, so you may be attempting this as a work around - either way a classic X-Y problem.

Rather than spend time trying to get the script to work through a browser, let's define the actual problem being solved and work on that instead.

* What are the backup files, possibly created by mysqldump?
* Why are you actually using the shell script? (You may have reasons not obvious to me!)
* Related, why did you not simply write this in php? (Did you try? If so what were the results and why did you turn to this method?)
* Are the backup files accessible to the web server? (Could you show us the apache document root path please)

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Continuation of a previous thread...
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...27-4175683614/

Using PHP would be the preferred method.

However, the web server runs as an unprivileged user i.e apache, www-data etc and therefore does not have permissions to read your home directory.

I discovered "select" in bash and it is really a perfect way to select files (in this case) to manipulate, at least outside the browser.

Actually DBase2.com is a virtual host and all files for the program, including the "backup files" are easily accessed from here.

MySql database files gzipped from mysqldump

I thought it a slick and easy way to select the files to manipulate.

I'm lazy!. I thought it was going to be easier to use the shell script.

DocumentRoot /var/www/html/DBases2.com
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 Nov 6 15:33 DBases2.com -> /home/rick/DBases2/

At this point I guess I should write this in PHP and access it thru the browser with AJAX. Wouldn't that be the best solution.

If so what would your suggestion be as a way to substitute the BASH "select" command?
I'm thinking something with php dir functions.

One way would be to use the glob function which creates an array of files of the directory and create a dynamic form using whatever html form you prefer i.e. select, check boxes, data list etc.

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Yes, shell scripts cannot be used interactively through a browser - now you know!

Good, that should eliminate path and permission problems, assuming nothing outside apache alters file ownership or permission.

Only in a shell, at least if you need it to be interactive.

AJAX would be one possibility, but a simple select list in a web page would work as well without all the javascript.

If I understand correctly you need two things:

* Some way to list and select the backup file name
* A method of passing the selected filename or its contents to MySQL for execution

The first could be as simple as using PHP's glob() function, or opendir()/readdir() to generate a list of files.

Once you have the list you can encode it into an HTML SELECT element, or simply make a list of hyperlinks that you can click on. For simplicity I'd suggest a simple list of links that submit back onto the same page, with code that detects the encoded filename in the $_GET[] array (if I remember my PHP correctly) and performs the necessary action to execute the queries it contains.

That "execute" action might be done by passing the selection to a shell script, although I would recommend keeping it all in PHP with no exec()s if possible.

AJAX would be basically the same thing but with would require a little javascript and a target for the AJAX request... your choice.

One other thing to consider is that with any kind of one-click restore from backup you create a potential garden path to data loss... if your live DB has had changes since the last backup and you "restore" it, all those changes are gone - poof! You might consider some mechanism to prevent that being too easy to do!

See how far you can get with that!

* michaelk types faster and says more with fewer words than I do!

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You shouldn't perform long operations (such as database backup) via httpd+php (or httpd+cgi). That's what shell-access is good for. Also there is 'crontab' for repeated operations.

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Yes! If you have a shell script that will restore a database from the command line that works, just use that…length is not a factor...(one can create a php/cgi script that’s not dependent upon the connection), but absent outstanding coding and security (phpMySQL comes to mind), one should not do this kind of work in a browser.

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